


Operation Babe Watch

by Silvered_Fox



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Poor Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 22:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15204743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvered_Fox/pseuds/Silvered_Fox
Summary: Mishima has a plan. An utterly brilliant plan to go to the best vacation spot and pick up girls. What he didn't plan on, was getting stranded out of town with Ryuji.





	Operation Babe Watch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tiffycatdraws](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Tiffycatdraws).



> I really hope you like this - I chose this pair because it was the rarest of your choices and I have a weakness for attempting the less loved ships. I don't know how well I did getting their characters right but I do know that Lody was absolutely amazing for helping me polish this to the state it's in now and without that help this would barely be half the fic it is.
> 
> Happy persona Xmas in July!

Ryuji wasn't sure how he'd ended up in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday afternoon, miles away from home, but here he was looking for girls and hanging out with one Mishima Yuuki.

Mishima had called him up hoping for a trip out to the “Best Spot for Meeting Girls Ever,” since he'd heard about it recently and thought that they could make a day of it. So here they were. Two hopefuls in a sea of... uninterested women.

The dejected look on Mishima's face made Ryuji wish he could do something to cheer him up, but there wasn't much that could be done to fix it- he was too busy having his own lack of success. With every passing hour they got closer and closer to giving up, but they weren't quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. Not until they had _some_ success - they'd come way too far to give in.

He checked his phone right as Mishima seemed to have had a similar realization and realized that they were well and truly screwed.

"Man, you were supposed to be watching the time!"  
  
"Why, weren't _you_ watching the time earlier?"  
  
Their words crashed into each other as they both spoke at the same time.

"Don't give me that- you planned this trip. And you're normally on your phone constantly!" Ryuji shot out.

“That was for the Phansite, I'm not the admin any more, just a humble retired Phanboy and we are _screwed_."

 

They would have had to have been on the last train back into town over an hour ago. Taking a chance and looking at the possible alternate train times was no good. They were way too far out to make it back in and would probably have to find a motel somehow but... "I didn't bring enough cash for a hotel. Ugh, this sucks.”  

“Wait." Ryuji dug out his phone. When things had gone wrong in the past he'd always looked to their leader, and if anyone might know a good way to get out of this, it would be him. Even better, with how many people Akira was acquainted with, he might even know someone nearby they could crash with.

He worried that Akira wouldn’t pick up as the phone rang, then sighed in relief as soon as the comfort of that familiar voice made him instantly feel like everything would be ok.

"Hey um... you wouldn't maybe know any ways back into town super late at night?"  
  
There was a long pause before Akira asked “I might but Ryuji? Where are you?”

He tried to explain what had happened with as little embarrassment as possible. “So… you and Mishima went off to pick up girls and forgot the time? And now you need somewhere to stay?”  
  
"Hey, I hear that tone in your voice. It's not that funny.” There was no reply to that but he could almost see Akira standing there smiling.  “Dude seriously, it's not!” He fought down the urge to grumble and asked "Ok, what can we do?"

"Give me a moment and I'll see. I'll put Futaba on it."

"Ugh, do you really have to tell her? She's never going to let us live it down." Ryuji grumbled.

"I don't have to, but she really is the best choice to set up something right now. I can give you some of the team funds." Ryuji was not looking forward to the team finding out about all of this.

\---------------------

"This... is the place right?" Mishima had just followed Ryuji's lead. He knew that if Akira was involved, it was better just not to question it, but this was... well.

"You're sure, right?"

Futaba had texted them a location and a wink, and he hadn't been sure how to interpret that until he saw the hotel. Checking in was easy enough. It was when they got to the room that they realized they might have a problem.

Their small, single, room. He'd tried to appeal to the staff about changing to a double but they just told him that they were booked up, and they’d been given the last room the hotel had available.  

Ryuji was starting to believe that it was a conspiracy. Futaba must have been laughing her ass off at the idea of them going off to pick up girls and then ending up in a single bed together.

He was sure she’d done this on purpose. They just _happened_ to have gotten the only room in a fully booked hotel. He should care more, but he just wanted to collapse.

He hadn't expected a grand hotel but still... something that was more than just a bed that they'd be... sharing.... He looked over at Mishima and gulped slightly. This would only be awkward if they made it awkward.

It would be fine.

It was not fine, he decided later that night, having to hold himself back from reaching out and cuddling the shorter boy. Why did Mishima have to actually be cute? He thought back to how much he’d done behind the scenes for everyone. It wasn’t fair that he did that much work and got almost no recognition. The world knew about the Phantom Thieves, and they knew that there was a Phansite, but no one knew how much one person did to maintain all of that without even being one of them.  
  
And it was thanks to him fighting and helping that they had been able to save Akira. Even before the phansite went up he was tenacious, never giving up even when he was always the underdog. And when he blushed and did that thing where he put his hand on the back of his neck it was cuter than it had any right to be.  
  
Why the hell did his crazy ass teammate have to do this to them? If this was one of those new western hotels they'd probably have gotten two twin beds... although, knowing Futaba, she'd have booked them ONE twin bed and they'd have ended up even closer together. The thought of being closer than they were now short circuited something in his head.

He made a slightly strangled noise as the thought crossed his mind, and then regretted it as he realized he’d probably woken up the very problem he was trying to avoid thinking about. If he'd known that his roommate was having the exact same problem and freaking out even more he'd probably have both worried less AND more.

~

  
Across from Ryuji and still wide awake, Mishima was having similar problems, being so close to his not-quite-crush that he just couldn't quite imagine this was all actually happening.

They'd managed to get ready for bed without talking too much about the fact that they were sharing a futon - this was just normal. Two guys (ok one really hot guy and him) and nothing would be weird about it unless he opened his mouth and made it that way. The problem was, he wanted nothing more than for things to get weird; but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to make a move. Giving up on sleep, decided to get up. Maybe he could pretend to go to the bathroom and just go pace for a bit.

He felt Ryuji stir and sit up too and felt bad for waking him with his restlessness. It’s not like it was Ryuji’s fault that he couldn’t sleep. Well except that it kindof _was_.

"Dude, can't sleep?" Silence met Ryuji's question. Mishima was quiet sitting up in the dark room. There was no use pretending that there wasn't something eating at him, but he didn't really want to say what it was; that would just make things even more awkward. Right?

Unfortunately for Mishima, Ryuji never could leave well enough alone, and he just had to prod a bit more. "C'mon man, it's ok. Whatever it is, you can talk to me."

Mishima didn’t reply right away. He heard the intake of breath and pulled up the courage to speak before Ryuji asked again.

"Is this weird?" Mishima couldn't help but voice his earlier thoughts. They were still echoing in his head. He'd been pushed to answer, and this would probably make everything strange and worse but he was almost bursting with wanting to just _talk_ about this. And they were both awake, and Ryuji was asking in that soft supportive voice, and he was trying not to melt, or cry. He didn't even know why he wanted to cry; he just did.

As he was trying to work out how he felt he could just barely see Ryuji’s face. He looked like he had no idea how to respond to that. It was probably a weird question to have asked in the first place, and afraid of what was about to come out of his mouth and he blurted out “I like you” before he realized what he was even saying.

Considering that they were both guys, had a whole night to get through together, and were sleeping in the same bed, that was probably not the best way to confess. He hadn’t even meant to confess, it had just happened, and now he was trying desperately not to crawl back inside the sheets and pretend he was sleep walking or something.  
  
Ryuji’s brain to mouth filter was apparently still nonexistent since before Mishima could crawl away or try to pretend he hadn’t just said that, he heard Ryuji reply  "Well yeah and I think you're super cute but I'm really tired, can't we go back to bed now?" Everything in the room froze. Ryuji paused mid yawn and snapped his mouth shut.

The response reverberated through the room. Then as both of them seemed to process the meaning of their words, both faces flushed brightly.  A glance showed him that Ryuji was just as red if not even redder than Mishima. 

"I... you... what?" Mishima wasn't able to process what he thought he'd just heard. "It sounded like you think I'm c _ute_ ?" His voice squeaked a bit on that last word as Ryuji finally looked more awake and alert.

Ryuji responded with "If I like you, and you like me, why did we waste so much time looking for girls?"

Mishima started to sputter as he realized that Ryuji was, in a roundabout way, asking him out.

"Are you suggesting we maybe… go out? Give it a try? Like actual boyfriends?" Both of their blushes were only getting deeper the longer they talked, but neither said anything, knowing they’d only end up being called out on their own bright red face if they did.

Ryuji gave that grin of his that made Mishima weak in the knees and threw his arms behind his head, contemplating the idea. "I don't really care what society thinks anymore - if you'd asked like, a year ago, I would have said hell no, no matter how cute I thought you were, but now..." He trailed off and Mishima gave him a moment to gather his thoughts. "I promised myself I’d never run away from anything and that means feelings too. I don't know when it started, but I like you, and you've gotta hang on to things that are important to you. So, let's try it. Maybe... uh... we have some time tomorrow before we need to head back, so we could go see somethin’—Ah, damn it"  Ryuji suddenly stopped and swore, not even giving Mishima a chance to reply. Mishima worried for a moment about just what was wrong, when Ryuji continued and clarified. "Futaba's never gonna let us live this down!"

It was too much. A moment later, they were both clutching their sides and leaning against each other, wheezing and setting the other off every time they got even remotely close to calming down. Eventually as their laughter finally calmed down, Mishima steeled his nerves and reached out. It took almost every ounce of willpower he had to nonchalantly slip his hand into Ryuji's, but it was worth it as he felt a reassuring squeeze back and Ryuji kept holding on without mentioning it.

With a yawn, Ryuji mumbled, "If we want to go on our first date, we need to get some sleep." He was snoring almost as soon as he hit the pillow.

As Mishima laid down next to him and stared at their still joined hands, he couldn’t help but think that if things went well, this was the last Operation Babe Watch they'd ever have to go on. The smile on his face stayed with him as he drifted off, thinking of waking up next to Ryuji in the morning, and then hopefully every morning thereafter.   

 


End file.
